And here we have the same story in another form: 

“The philosopher of Oraibi tells us that when the people ascended by means of the magical tree, which constituted the ladder from the lower world to this, they found the firmament, the ceiling of this world, low down upon the earth—­the floor of this world.”

That is to say, when the people climbed up, from the cave in which they were bidden, to the surface of the earth, the dense clouds rested on the face of the earth.

“Machito, one of their gods, raised the firmament on his shoulders to where it is now seen. Still the world was dark, as there was no sun, no moon, and no stars.  So the people murmured because of the darkness and the cold.  Machito said, ‘Bring me seven maidens’; and they brought him seven maidens; and he said, ’Bring me seven baskets of cotton-bolls’; and they brought him seven baskets of cotton-bolls; and he taught the seven maidens to weave a magical fabric from the cotton, and when they had finished it he held it aloft, and the breeze carried it away toward the firmament, and in the twinkling of an eye it was transformed into a beautiful and full-orbed moon; and the same breeze caught the remnants of flocculent cotton, which the maidens had scattered during their work, and carried them aloft, and they were transformed into bright stars.  But still it was cold; and the people murmured again, and Machito said, ’Bring me seven buffalo-robes’; and they brought him seven buffalo-robes, and from the densely matted hair of the robes he wove another wonderful fabric, which the storm carried

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away into the sky, and it was transformed into the full-orbed sun.  Then Machito appointed times and seasons, and ways for the heavenly bodies; and the gods of the firmament have obeyed the injunctions of Machito from the day of their creation to the present.” *

Among the Thlinkeets of British Columbia there is a legend that the Great Crow or Raven, Yehl, was the creator of most things: 

“Very dark, damp, and chaotic was the world in the beginning; nothing with breath or body moved there except Yehl; in the likeness of a raven he brooded over the mist; his black winds beat down the vast confusion; the waters went back before him and the dry land appeared.  The Thlinkeets were placed on the earth—­though how or when does not exactly appear—­while the world was still in darkness, and without sun, moon, or stars."[2]

The legend proceeds at considerable length to tell the doings of Yehl.  His uncle tried to slay him, and, when he failed, “he imprecated with a potent curse a deluge upon all the earth. . . .  The flood came, the waters rose and rose; but Yehl clothed himself in his bird-skin, and soared up to the heavens, where he stuck his beak into a cloud, and remained until the waters were assuaged."[3]

This tradition reminds us of the legend of the Thessalian Cerambos, “who escaped the flood by rising into the air on wings, given him by the nymphs.”